Peter Thiel’s visit to the Institute of France, a learned society in the heart of Paris, was kept secret until the very last moment. There, behind closed doors, he was due to speak at a meeting of members of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, a working group intended to discuss “the future of democracy.” The group, chaired by former minister Hervé Gaymard, has previously interviewed 25 figures, all French, mainly legal scholars, political scientists and historians.
Even Xavier Darcos, chancellor of the Institute of France, who oversees all five of its academies, was only informed of Thiel’s invitation at the last minute. The invitation has caused a stir within the institution, not only because Thiel, the American billionaire who co-founded the online payment system PayPal and Palantir Technologies, a data analytics giant that works for many governments, is one of the biggest investors in the American tech sector. Rather, it is Thiel’s political ideas, which openly contest democracy, that make his presence at the academy event decidedly provocative.
According to an outline of his speech sent to the academy, of which Le Monde obtained a copy in French, Thiel intended to introduce himself as “a moderate Orthodox Christian and a humble classical liberal, with one seemingly minor deviation from classical liberal orthodoxy: I worry about the Antichrist.”
Through Thiel, however, the academy is about to encounter a far more radical worldview. The Antichrist, a figure he has given sometimes-cryptic talks on, drawing from both the Book of Daniel in the Bible and the writings of 16th-century English philosopher Francis Bacon, does not, according to him, refer to the rise of artificial intelligence or the proliferation of imperialist leaders. Thiel claims that today’s Antichrist is anyone who expresses alarm about climate change, stokes fears of nuclear war or seeks to regulate the use of screens and social media platforms, all in order to promote the emergence of a “world government” – something libertarians, who are hostile to all forms of state regulation, dread above all.
A bit self centred of him to travel around and talk about himself in the third person
As funny as these jokes are, people really aren’t catching what he’s up to:
Thiel sees Christianity as a threat to his goals and ambitions, so he’s trying to re-code it. His angle is that “Anti-Christianity” is being “anti-AI”; that’s his whole angel and it’s dumb af, but he’s trying to get ahead of the narrative that’s ripe for the picking of calling AI the next TOWER of BABEL or some sort of false god, which it is much closer to in actuality. Anti-AI sentiment (which I’m all for, from a completely secular pov) has the potential to merge with and fuel religious sentiment into the future, so he’s trying to get ahead of it, and naturally, he’s also trying to get Christianity’s resources on board with his agenda. Not to mention the threat of Jesus’ inherently socialist/anti-wealth message. Basically, he’s hyper aware that he and the rest of the ruling class are essentially the antithesis of Christ, so he’s trying to change people’s impression of Christianity… which is remarkably anti-Christ…
The thing is, the hallucinating, dehydrated, beached, caveman prisoner that wrote the book of revelations wasn’t pulling from nothing, he was just confusing his fever dream social commentary with divine insight… I guess…?
History rhymes, and it’s full of anti-christs.
The world is run by lucky morons.
Oh cool. He’s trying to be the next Joseph Smith.
Relevant typo
lol whoops
He knows no other way, as long as his blood boy comes with him.